Life has kept me away for the past few months. Believe me when I say I wish it wasn’t like that, but, some things are out of one’s control. You know? But, I have been wanting to get back and post some things and, so, here we go!

There are some similarities in various actions we know to do in Windows, that work the same in Photoshop. The ‘Copy’ and ‘Paste’ feature is about the same. The ‘Clipboard’ works in Photoshop. You can copy, say, a quote in Windows and ‘Paste’ it into an active font layer. Some of these are no-brainers. I found one that kind of surprised me. It saves me a lot of time.

Click and Drag is a given in Photoshop. You are always clicking and dragging something; a layer, an image, everything within a document can be dragged all around it. My tip is a bit different. If you want to turn off multiple layers, and by turning off I mean clicking on the ‘eye’ icon to turn off that layer’s visibility, there is an easy, quick way to do it. Click and hold the right mouse button on the eye of the top-most layer you wish to turn off. Then, without releasing the mouse button, drag downwards over each eye you want turned off. This action will work until you release the mouse button, on the bottom-most layer you want turned off. To turn those layers’ visibility again, simple repeat the same action.

Here is an image of a Layers Palette for a piece I did:

Let’s say I want to ‘turn off’ every layer down to the “txtr”. I want to make any adjustments I need to on the textures. To see what I am doing, I need to turn off all the layers above the “txtr” layer. I place my cursor over the top-most ‘eye’, on the far left side of the top layer. Holding down the right mouse button, I drag down the column of eyes on all the layers I want turned off. When I get just above the “txtr” layer, the layer I want to view, I simply release the mouse button.

Here is the Result:

When I figured this out, I was remembering certain actions I used in Windows. I suppose it really isn’t that phenomenal, but, can I tell you how much time this has saved me?! LOL I know there is probably some way to do this already in PS, but, this works great for me!

Just wanted to share that little tid-bit with you.

While I was busy dealing with life, I used my art to cope. At times, diving in to an experimental texture or following a tutorial, or even, partaking in several challenges at a few scrap forums, would take my mind off things and, in some cases, actually make me feel better. This is the concept, basically, behind ‘Art-Journaling’. That is why I took to it so easily. The example I used for the tut above was for this piece on what makes up ‘me’, Su:

This one was extremely ‘therapeutic’!

While creating pages with a face, I made some brushes to help me get started. I thought you folks might like them too. They are a great ‘spring board’ for any kind of page. You can re-colour them, or clip a paper/texture to them. Whatever tickles your fancy. Here is a preview:

Hi, ya’ll! I bet you didn’t think I’d ever get back here! My host changed, so, I thought this would be a good time to start fresh. Actually, even though I backed up the old blog, I don’t know how to upload it. (blush, blush) I found some WP feature that allowed me to ‘Import’ the back-up file, but, it was too large! So, if I can figure it out, I want to add my ‘Pages’, which had all the links to resources! If not, I will start that anew, as well! Bear with me as I gradually add back some of the features I thought would still be nice. I sure thank you!

This past years or so has been very hard on me and I’m not in the best of health, anyway. But, I just can’t keep on going at this rate! So, I am trying to get in the habit to look at things differently. A lot of my past has to do with bad decisions, so, I know that needs work. Much of it was issues with my children and some friends. Some things I just can’t control! Some, I can! I have to learn to deal with those things. The biggy, though, is I must learn to say “NO”!

Anyhow, I have been busy! If I sit idle, my thoughts devour me, so, I took this time to enroll in some online courses. Photoshop Artistry was a must! Sebastian has collaborated with some of the best designers and resource providers in the field! New content is constantly being added! There are some specialty workshops in Brush Design with Amanda, as in Studio Amanda Rockwell, Smart Objects with the awesome Dave Cross, and i-Phone Art with Susan Tuttle. Dave Cross has held classes on Creative Live and he is good! (These workshops are not part of the PSArtistry site, but, separate with nominal fees.) There are contests, challenges, lessons, resources, our own gallery and a forum.

If you aren’t sure about the Smart Objects, you really should look into them! A really good place to use them is with fonts. You know how you have to rasterize a text layer before you can apply a filter to your text? Then, if you decide later you don’t like the font, or the filter, or even want to change the words, you pretty much have to start over! If you use Smart Objects, you can add filters (now called Smart Filters) and still go back to the original text any time just by double-clicking on the Smart Filter icon and tweek away!

I did some images to help explain. Here is the Layers Palette with a background and one layer of text.

This is what the document looks like:

To change the text layer to a Smart Object, right-click and select ‘Convert to Smart Object’ or, in the top menu bar, click on Filters>Convert to Smart Object. You will know it is a Smart Object because of the tiny little box (the icon) down in the lower right-hand corner of the layer’s thumbnail. Notice, too, that the Filters are now on a separate layer. You can go back to that Filter and change it! Can’t do that when it’s rasterized!

I used the Graphic Pen Filter. Here are the results:

If you ever need to change the text font, size or color, double-click on that tiny little box in the lower right-hand corner. A new window will open up with the original text!

Make any changes and click Save, not Save As. There will be a message box. Just save and close. Here is the new text:

When you check your document, wallah! The changes have been updated!

This is not the only thing Smart Objects are used for! You can add changes to one Smart Object layer, Convert it to a Smart Object, add more changes, Convert… and keep on going. It’s rather like those dolls that nest inside each other. To go back, you just keep double-clicking on the little tiny box in the lower right-hand corner. I don’t recall how many times you can ‘nest’ Smart Objects, I forget, but, it is a good amount.

If I have left you dumbfounded with no clue, try Dave’s workshop, or, at least, Google ‘Smart Objects’ and seek out more information.

I have been working on some goodies and will start posting them here soon. My ‘style’ has evolved, so, I am not doing the full-blown digital scrapbooking kits. Rather, I have been learning Art-Journaling and many of those techniques. My aim is to create objects and backgrounds and elements that look like the real life art journals. I love what some folks have done with theirs and they can be therapeutic, as well. Just go to Pinterest and enter ‘Art-Journaling’ in the search box!!

I just wanted to get my blog up and running again, yet, make it worthwhile to read. If you aren’t familiar with my blog, I like to write tutorials and create artsy resources to use in my own art that I share. I hope to see you again! Next on my agenda is an RSS Feed so you can get notified when I post.